Twite

Day 3 Moray and Nairn Coast


We rose early, loaded the car and had a hearty breakfast and left for a day's birding. This was to be our modus operandi for the holiday, resulting in long but often rewarding days out. We decided to start at Nairn, the reasoning behind going to the coast was the weather was better and we were saving the sunny days for Loch Garten and Cairn Gorm.

We visited Nairn beach first, in the corner between the pier and the sea wall were Knot, Oystercatchers, Curlew  and Turnstones along with the usual gulls. Offshore, desultory ducks, no big flocks to be seen anywhere and on the pier itself a Hooded Crow, which was probably a hybrid with Carrion Crow.

Along the beach a lone walker whose dog was being harassed by five "hoodies" which showed no fear and were constantly swooping on the hapless dog.

Not an auspicious start so we moved to the other side of the river were we found a substantial roost of Redshanks, a flighty Grey Wagtail and several Oystercatchers. Now I am used to seeing plenty of Oystercatchers but during this holiday we encountered them everywhere, even spotting one on the roof of a bungalow near Forres. A fly past of 5 Whooper Swans was nice to see but I failed to get a reasonable capture.

On along the coast to Findhorn Bay where we parked at the hide. There was a police car present and it was apparent that another incident had taken place, something that is developing into a trend with our birding. As the third police car arrived I was politely asked if I would remove my scope and if it was possible for me to relocate elsewhere. Luckily we had been monitoring the Moray and Nairn website recent sightings page and we were aware of a flock of Twite on the foreshore in Findhorn Village so off we went to find them.
Parking in the village we walked just a few yards before locating a mixed flock of Linnets and Twite.

 

This one has all the hallmarks. Longer deeply cleft tail, pink on rump, bolder pale wing bar, more heavily dark streaked plumage and a dark tipped yellow bill.

There are three problems with photographing Twite - they are highly mobile, consort with Linnets causing identification confusion and they are difficult to locate in the debris of the foreshore. For comparison some Linnet shots taken at the same location.

Ring Ouzels

It was nice to be out birding and at last there seemed to be lots to see. We set out fairly late in the morning, avoiding the early rain,  and hoping to see the long staying Ring Ouzel in the horse paddocks in Warner's Lane down in Selsey. Unfortunately the bird had gone - "should have been there the day before".  Never mind, there had been something of a fall and the paddock was becoming well populated by Wheatears, there were also several Redstarts in attendance. It is apparent that the paddocks have a large population of rabbits, something that Reynard was attempting to address.

 

 

 

 

 
Next up was a visit to Church Norton where we gained information of a Ring Ouzel on the West Side. The bird was easy to locate, a large male sat up high in the gorse, unfortunately it spooked and relocated to a blackthorn clump some distance away. Whilst we were keeping an eye on this bird, a second specimen turned up and at one time they both occupied the same tree. We hung around to try and improve our shots but unfortunately the bird was always at distance.

 

 Amusement was provided by a Linnet that was obviously nest building but it would appear that small feathers are at a premium.

Next stop, the Visitor Centre just to enquire after any birds of note. Nothing to keep us occupied so we decided to visit the North Wall. Dave Shepherd was in attendance and put us on to a Cuckoo, we had seen and heard one on the other side of the harbour but this one was happy to perch and give us good views but not in camera range We had previously seen a Little Grebe on the nest in one of the pools, so it was time to check up on any offspring. I suspect that this is a fairly young and inexperience mother because of the rather open siting of the nest, but at least one chick has survived and has the undivided attention of its parent.

Plenty of Whimbrel out in the harbour and on the return trip to the car we had great but distant views of a Whinchat resplendent in full summer plumage.

And finally..... a usual suspect.

Selsey Bill

I  arrived at Selsey Bill car park a tad after 0600, surprised by two things, the number of cars already parked and the fact the weather was not quite as forecast, the promised south easterly was still stuck firmly in the north east. Having set up my scope and chair amongst a host of birders I sat and waited for the action to commence, and I waited and waited, after four hours I cut my losses and departed for a walk round Church Norton. However, I wasn't totally unrewarded as Little Tern, Yellow Wagtail and, oddly enough, Whimbrel gave me year ticks. The Whimbrel were "lolloping"  along the beach when Owen Mitchell worked his magic and called them into range for a camera shot. Thanks Owen, with a bit more effort we could have had them down sun and a bit less altitude.

 Several Great Northern Divers were offshore and gave splendid views in the clear early morning light. Additionally, sightings of a dolphin and seal made up for the lack of Skuas. Commic and Sandwich Terns were feeding close to the shore line, and an incoming Hobby rounded off the watch.

At Church Norton things were pretty quiet, still plenty of  Whitethroats about but precious little else. I ambled round to the hide but found nothing so carried on up the path along the west side disturbing a pair of Shelducks  which were getting very friendly.

 

 

 

Plenty of butterflies about and I noted Peacock, Orange Tip and Speckled Wood. The gorse bushes are in full bloom, in the heat of the morning sun the scent was an overpowering smell of coconut. As always, amongst the sea of yellow, a male Linnet posed perfectly. The extensive reedbed was alive with Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers and vociferous Cetti's

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Broom doesn't look too bad either.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the local Crows were desperately trying to find the Dunnock's nest in the garden. However, just minutes later, the Crow was performing aerobatics to drive away a Herring Gull from its own nest. A case of the biter bit! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arlington Reservoir

To my 3 readers who have come visiting with the expectation of images of the Arlington Osprey then I offer humble apologies. For some unfathomable reason all the high contrast photos that I took today are unusable, normally I process raw images in PSE9 and adjust for white balance etc when first opening the image. Today, shots that appear to be OK on the camera - sharp focus and correctly exposed, when downloaded appear awful. Furthermore, any other adjustments in PSE9 appear very "steppy" and produce really odd artifacts in the image. - investigation is ongoing.  I have uploaded the lower contrast images but even these are lacking the sparkle that is apparent on the LCD screen of the camera - even on the closest zoom - a bit of a disaster.


Anyway with the forecast of clement weather and reports of a good range of birds at Arlington I ventured forth at an early hour. On arrival I walked straight round to the dam wall where, in the south west corner, there was a profusion of Linnets and Pied Wagtails with a large proportion of juveniles of both species. Tucked in the corner by the farm there was a single Egyptian Goose in the company of three Canada Geese. 




Walk like an Egyptian

Out on the reservoir there were at least eight pairs of Great Crested Grebes, the two nearest to me looked as if they could go into display at any time but obviously finally thought better of it. On the dam wall close to the water there were six Common Sandpipers, normally there would be more but the water levels are very high and the "beach" that is exposed just after the outflow tower is well under water.




Common Sandpiper



Common Sandpiper - flat image quality

Sure enough the Osprey turned up at about 0630 and stayed circling the reservoir until about 0730 when it slowly wandered down the Cuckmere River, not having attempted a single dive. At the far end of the dam I found a pair of Turtle Doves, one dropping down to the waters edge for a drink, just as I lined up the camera two dog walkers came through the gate and I  waved goodbye to the birds. Still, nice to know where I can have another go.


It was nice to catch up with Dick again, ever cheerful and helps raise the spirits when they flag. I am fairly sure that he got good shots of the Osprey and he was certainly keen to show me his Sandpiper shots. Also, I met two nice birders from Pembrokeshire, hope they enjoyed their visit to Sussex




Not a wader

So if the weather holds fair as promised by the Met Office it will be another visit to capture the Osprey if I cannot sort out the problem with the camera.

The presence of a herd of cattle behind the dam wall provided plenty of flies for the Wagtails, Swallows and House Martins





Father and son